Conventional aqueous slurries of inorganic flame retardants, such as alumina trihydrate, can be used to form coatings on various substrates. However, such coatings lack hydrophobicity or water repellency. Applying certain surface treatments onto inorganic flame retardants can be used to impact hydrophobicity or water repellency, but such treated flame retardants cannot be used in water-based systems.
It would be beneficial to produce aqueous slurries of an inorganic flame retardant that can be used to form coatings characterized by both flame retardancy and water repellency. Accordingly, it is to these ends that the present invention is directed.